Night falls
by Tiecollector
Summary: Another evening at the bullpen, two people still working. Just a moment of friendship between Hotch and JJ, set after JJ's return.


**Still not a native speaker, so please be forgiving. :) Reviews are always welcome.**

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, not even Hotch although I'd treat him so well...  
><strong>

**_Night falls_**

He was used to being the last one to work. When everybody else had gone home, he could concentrate on finishing some of the files that were piling on his desk like a tower he had to climb to save the princess, imprisoned by some cruel monarch in some far away land. Once he reached the last file, he would be able to rest, to overlook the country with its gentle hills of green and its villages now pacified. But that never happened.

He was wrapped up in another file documenting the perversity humans were capable of doing to each other when he heard a soft knock on the door. He was surprised to find that somebody still was here, sharing the darkening hours with him. When he said 'come in', she was standing there, tentative but still with that aura of dedication, he had come to respect and admire.

"What are you still doing here? I thought you had left with the others" he asked, tilting his head in that characteristic way of his, his eyebrows drawn together as if he wasn't quite able to figure out what had brought her here, yet willing to understand her motives.

The blonde smiled. Her being a profiler still felt new, but she had always been good at reading people, and she knew a deflection when she heard one, even if the man using it was the unrivaled master of deflection. She decided to not quite let him get away with it - not this time.

"I just finished some of the reports that were still sitting on my desk, when I saw the light in your office. You still think you'll win that first-class guided bullpen tour once you're proven you're the last man working?"

Since her return, things had changed between them. Well, not so much changed, but shifted in an almost imperceptible, but subtle way. The secret they were forced to keep for so long, that aching feeling of betrayal they had both shared, had made them allies, the lines of supervisor and co-worker blurring. He's always had respected her, her work that had made her indispensable to the team, to him. The calm but unflappable way with which she treated the ever-hungry press, and the gentleness she offered the families of the victims. He had lost count how often she had lightened his load by just being there, her discreet yet strong presence, effectively playing the buffer for the team. When she had comforted him all those months ago, on the jet, he had felt as if he was able to breathe a bit more easily for the first time, to see again once familiar patterns and colors, since his world had become quicksand, unrecognizable and not meant for living in it. He would never forget that moment, and the gratefulness he felt.

He had lost her, and he had brought her back. He'd never been a man to give a promise easily. Somehow, she thought, it would be physically impossible for him to fail to keep a promise, let alone to willingly break one. It was that certainty that had kept her going during the last year, knowing that he'd provide a home and a second family for her, knowing that he'd keep a place open for her, the place she knew she belonged.

The corners of his mouth slightly twitched - his version of a smile, so rare and so precious. "If I fall short of you, maybe I'll still get that bigger in-tray they offer for second prize."

After all these years, she still was surprised by his sense of humour, a feature he usually hid so well. If there was one good thing that had come out of the nightmarish months that lay behind them, it was that she could take the liberty to banter with him. Standing in his office in the half-light he preferred for working when it was late and the troubled ghosts of the day were hushed, and to see his almost-smile, held a comfort she could not quite grasp and that she did not allow herself to examine any closer.

"Fair enough" she smiled with a short nod, making her blond hair flame up in the soft light emanating from his desk. She looked at him, suddenly serious, and said softly "You should go home. There's nothing here that couldn't wait until tomorrow. Let the ghosts sleep for a while, they'll get by without you for one night." She considered her next words for one short moment, afraid she would go too far, overstep one of the countless boundaries that were as much part of him as his suit and tie, his impossibly high standard of ethics, and his shadow. If she crossed that line, he would draw up the bridge to the man behind the unit chef, the man who could turn your world upside down with a smile, who could make you feel at home with a tilting of his head, and who could make your heart lighten up with his deadpan ways.

She decided to take the step. "Nothing will happen if you go home now. The terrible things won't find their way into our world just because you're not here to prevent it. Even the gatekeeper has the right to rest and sleep, to go home to his son and be with the good spirits for a while. This is the only way he'll be able to face another day keeping the monsters at bay."

He looked at her with that intense glare she used to be afraid of in the beginning, not being able to figure out what it meant. She'd always felt that somehow he was able to stop time for an instant with that look, as if time itself was holding its breath before the world started turning again.

When his features softened, she knew she had reached him - somewhere among the horrors that had been ambushing over and over again, he had managed to keep a passage open for gentleness, genuine concern and the soft and careful touch of a friend, a passage she had boldly entered by her advance.

"Says the woman who's lurking in the dark, sneaking up her boss, making him neglect his duty and go home - all the while her own beautiful son is waiting impatiently for Mommy to come home" he quipped.

There was a mischievous glance in her eyes when she looked at him. "Alright Mr. My-in-tray-is-bigger-than-yours, I'll go home if you go - and to make sure you go and don't nest behind that big, solid desk of yours again, I'll wait till you've packed and then we'll go together. This is not open for discussion."

He almost blinked. Not saying a word, he slowly stood up and grabbed his briefcase. He reached for a file that lay unfinished on his desk, but then shot a short glance at her raised eyebrows and drew back his hand. As he went past her on his way to the door, he brushed her shoulder with a light, almost imperceptible touch. "I'll walk you to your car" he quietly said. She closed her eyes for a second, acknowledging his leading the way and together they left the bullpen for home, leaving the phantoms to their own devices for one night.


End file.
